You are a Pirate, I am a Princess
by SupernaturallyHetalian
Summary: Arthur Kirkland is a pirate. Amelia, and her sister Madeline, might just be long-lost princesses, possibly. Oil meets water, fire meets ice, Arthur meets his match, Amelia meets hers. But when Arthur forces them into his crew, he learns that his two captives have a lot more secrets than he thought. Some even they don't know. UkUs, maybe Franada? Other pairings, Fem!verse
1. Not at all like Dungeons and Dragons

**Hello guys! I'm SupernaturallyHetalian (duh), I love Supernatural and Hetalia and this is my first fanfic! I just love UsUk man, it is the best paring, with gerita and sufin and aushun following. Plus, Ameriko is such a badass! Pardon my liberties with fighting, since i know nothing, and also with Pirating, which I also know next-to-nothing about. I hope you enjoy it, it took a while... when I reread this, I usually change or add on to the chapter so if you want the while thing, check back every once in a while**

**P.S. Chiara (Key- ar- Ah) Vargas = Fem!Romano/ Felicia Vargas= Fem!Italy**

**Louise Beilschmidt= Fem!Germany**

**Antonia Hernandez Carriedo = Fem!Spain**

**Amelia F. Jones= Fem!America/ Madeline Williams= Fem!Canada**

**Ivana Braginskaya = Fem!Russia/ Nikolai Arlovsky= Nyo!Belarus**

**Vash Zwingli= Switzerland/ Lilli Zwingli= Liechtenstein**

* * *

You know that feeling early in the morning when you're all snuggled up in bed under the covers and you're warm and comfortable and you don't have to get up and everything is right with the world? Yeah, that's was I was doing, just chilling in my bed, not a care in the world.

It was raining outside, loud enough to hear the patters of the raindrops on the roof, which thankfully had stopped leaking... I'll never doubt Felicia's girlfriend Louise and her carpenter skills again as long as I live.

But yeah…It was total peace, rare in my world, and of course, it only lasted a couple minutes.

"AMELIA FAYE JONES! YOU'RE GONNA BE LATE! GET YOUR ASS OUT OF BED NOW AND GET READY FOR WORK!"

That's my sister. Madeline Alexis Williams. I call her Maddie. I am 19 and 4/6th, and she's 18 and a month but she's definitely the more mature of the two of us. She's the gentle, sweet, calm, shy, sensitive one, while I'm the exact opposite, and even though we're not twins, we look exactly alike except for the hairstyles and eye color. I think that people think since we're such opposites, we don't get long too well, but they couldn't be farther from the truth.

She never speaks above a whisper in public, and people think her sooooo soft-spoken, and those people obviously have never seen her scream at me. "HOLD YOUR DAMN HORSES MADDIE; ILL BE DOWN WHEN I'M READY!"

"HURRY UP THEN!"

She's such a stickler for schedules. "Fine. I'm coming." Quiet enough so she can't hear me.

I swung my legs out of bed and onto the floor, the ice-colder-than-a-witch's-tit cold floor. I hop from foot to foot waiting for my tootsies to adjust, and take a minute to observe my room. Looking at it, you'd be kind to call it sparse and you'd be mean to say it's practically desolate.

Water-stained wood walls, an ancient carved dresser and an elaborate mirror on top of it, a desk and chair across from my bed, that's pretty much it. That's ok though, because I don't need a lot. I try to do my best for Maddie though, since I'm the current breadwinner for this house. It be really helpful if she'd hurry up and be nineteen so she can work too but as long as she gets fed, clothed, and happy, I'm fine with it. Maddie gets mad sometimes, she says I sacrifice too much for her, which is total bullshit.

She's my baby sister and she deserves only the best. There's nothing I wouldn't do for her. Besides, She the only family I got left…

But anyway!

I go over to my dresser and pull my work clothes out of the drawer. As I get dressed, I observe myself in the mirror. People, men and women alike, around our village of Bariyle say that my sister and I are real beauties. In fact, with her long light-golden hair and violet eyes, they say that Maddie looks like the first great ruler Princess Arielle and that my blue eyes, curly, dirty blonde hair and 'winning' smile and attitude mirror that of the first great ruler Queen Anastasia. Interesting, huh?

After I put the leaden apron on (I work in a blacksmiths forge), it is now time for the Pièce de Résistance. The wooden chest I have on my chest holds in it the most important thing I own. It's a braided necklace inlaid with gold and encrusted with tiny, expensive-looking, jewels like rubies and topaz with a giant emerald at the base that fits perfectly in the hollow of my neck. I only take it off when I'm sleeping, and Maddie's the same way. Maddie's necklace is practically identical to mine, except at the base of her necklace, the gem is amethyst. Poor as we are, selling the necklaces are never an option. I love the necklace, and I was never a make-up and jewelry type of girl. I mean; what other piece of jewelry can withstand temperatures of over 4 thousand degrees without the gold getting hot or melting? It's awesome! My mother, before she left me and Maddie at the doorstep of the smithy, hung them around our necks, long agon. It was so long ago that I can't even remember her face, and even with her photographic memory there's no way Maddie would remember because Maddie was a newborn and I was almost 2. It's that last and only thing I have of her to remember her by… Shaking off the unusual stab of depression, I pass Maddie's room as I dash downstairs. It's almost freakishly neat, like always. I can almost believe that nobody lives in it, but that's how Maddie is. I, however, am the exact opposite. Even though my room is practically bare, I still manage to make it messy, something Maddie's says should be impossible. But how fun would life be if we had to stick to the rules? I stop wasting time and head into the tiny little room we call a kitchen. Maddie's at the old stove pulling toast out of the oven. Her necklace hangs at the base of her throat too, glinting in the light of the oil lamps.

She frowns at me. "Did you even brush your hair?" It's tangled in curly strands around my face and neck, and on my forehead and in my eyes. So no, to answer your question Maddie, no I did not.

"No mom. I'm making swords for the big bad pirates, not modeling some new dress for Franca's queens. I really see no need." She frowns at the mention of the queens. We've always had a weird attachment to the Queens and Princesses of Lantiria, our Country. Though it was when we were babies, the murder of the last Royal pair, well, we weren't happy when we heard about it in school. "Hey." She looks up. I smush her cheeks between my palms, "Smile, Maddie!" She stares at me like I've lost my mind, her lips quivering as she, being the stubborn little poo that she is, tries not to smile. But my awesome charisma is too much for her and she cracks a small grin. I release her cheeks. "Good." I then proceed to steal the toast from her and take a bite. The toast is crunchy on the outside and chewy and warm on the inside, just how I like my toast. I don't know where Maddie learned to cook (because I am much worse than she is and Mrs. Vargas could burn ice) , but even if its toast she finds a way to make it delicious.

"Oh. I almost forgot. Ivana and Nikolai were here earlier. Chiara wants to see you as soon as you walk through the forge's entrance. They said she sounds pissed." She glances at me like I've done something wrong or something. I haven't. At least I don't think I have. Crap, I dunno! Did I? Crap...

"Pssh. She always sounds pissed. I'll be fine, besides" I check the small pocket-watch that Ivana gave us for my birthday. "You were early. I've got like, fifteen minutes. You've got school today right?"

She scowls. "I don't see why I still have to go. Two months won't make that much if a difference if I already know more than the teachers." Did I mention Mattie is super-de-duper smart? Its frickin' crazy. I've never seen her grade drop below a 99% and usually it's above a 106% (She holds the frickin' record for best all-around score for these past three decades in school, it's absolutely mental), and the 99% was only in health class because she didn't understand the 'birds and the bee's'. It was the most awkward conversation I ever had to have with her.

"Sorry Maddie. You know you have to finish school in order to get your work permits."

She shrugs, "I know…but I hate it there. Nikolai, Lili, and Felicia are the only mildly intelligent ones there, and Feli barely passes in that department (It's true. She so sweet and funny and adorkable, but she acts a bit dim 99.99999999% of the time. We love her though). Everyone else is so stupid and dull it makes me want to stab myself."

"That's high school for you, Maddie. It's tough and boring and the food should be illegal, that's just how it is. But, I heard Lord Alexander is coming to your school later. To watch you read your essays on the Royal Pair, their downfall and division of power after the Queen's murder.,Care to run me by it one more time?"

"What, was I supposed to commit it to memory?"

"You're telling me you didn't?"

"…"

"…"

"Fine. Ok. Well 19 years ago, The Royal Pair as they were called, were the Queen and Princess of Lantiria. Lantiria, along with the 4 other countries of Britanica, Franca, Cazatania, and Quentain, are very matriarchal societies which is why the kings and princes had, have, no place on the throne, in a ruling sense. That isn't to say that Men aren't important figures now, though.

As I said, the Royal Pair was the ruling body of the country. The Queen, holder of the necklace of might, with her fiery, brave, determined spirit, possessed extreme, physical, and emotional strength, agility, reflexes, and the necklace granted her proficiency with all forms of physical combat, including weapons. As the supreme ruling monarch, she presided over governing of the country, the military, and her cabinet and foreign relations, along with various other duties.

The Princess, Her Younger sister, because of her calm, quiet, gentle spirit, possessed the necklace of magic, giving her full reign over all forms of magic that ranged from healing to alchemy to nature to the magic of life and death, and with the necklace and her own prowess was usually the greatest magician in the kingdom. In addition to magic prowess, she also possessed incredible intelligence and a photographic memory. The Princess presided over the same areas as the Queen, was the Second in Command to the military, and had the ability to knight individuals, but to a slightly lesser degree and was the Queen's closest advisor, the royal sorceress, _**(A.N. She's a lot more important than a Vice president, but that's the basis of what the Princess's role is) **_and beneath them both were the royal cabinet which served as the advisors to both the Queen and Princess.

They were benevolent rulers, loved by their people and fellow rulers but not all the inhabitants of Lantiria were happy with their monarchs. The self-proclaimed pirate 'king' Richard Kirkland and his crew of the "Bianca Muerta" were extremely displeased with the fact that a Woman ruled the country, despite the fact that a man has never ruled on the throne before. In the dark of night, on the day the Queen gave birth to her second child, another girl it is said, the pirates massacred a small fraction of the village; the guards stationed outside the castle, and stormed the castle, overpowering the Queen, the Princess, the Queen's young daughter, who was scheduled to be debuted 4 months to that day, (that is, shown to the rest of the kingdom when a royal child turns two), and the infant.

The Queen and Princess were killed and the bodies of the toddler and the infant were never found. The pirates then stole all the valuables they could find, barring the magic-secured royal treasury. The survivors of the massacre were the Pair's Cabinet and the Pairs trusted friend, and the Princesses magic tutor, Beatrice Mycroft. To calm the frantic masses of people and deter the threats of neighboring countries to flood Lantiria with troops to quell the pirate 'problem', the land of Lantiro divided the royal cabinet into the lords and ladies who rule over the regions, towns, districts and cities of Lantiro, including our very own Lord Alexander Myelin Candor. A-"

"MADDIE!"

She stops.

"I get it. You are a shoe-in for that A. Just shut up."

She starts pouting. "You're the one who asked me to tell you."

"I didn't think you'd go into such long, boring details. Shame on me, I know, but still."

"Whatever."

Checking the clock again, I see that I have exactly five minutes to get down the forge and we live on a large hill with a windy path down to town. It's an awesome way down though, there are fruit trees everywhere plus my calf muscles are firm as hell. But like I was saying, I'm gonna have to sprint like I'm being chased and not in the good way. "Shit! I'm gonna be late. I'll see you at lunch ok?"

She sniffs disdainfully, still mad at me for interrupting her. "Fine then. Love you, Maddie."

"*Sigh* I love you too, Amelia."

"I know you do."

And I'm off!

* * *

The rain miraculously has stopped but the ground is still really muddy and boggy. I start slipping and sliding and trying not to fall flat in my face. Actually, I have really good balance so while the people whose houses are on the hill are trying not to fall on their faces (its way funnier than it sounds) I'm flying down the mountain of mud balancing on my heels like a boss.

I get to the base with three minutes to spare, yet my momentum drags me forward, sending me on a crash course with the fruit-peddler's cart. It's just my luck that she lives on the outskirts of town.

I have no idea how this happened but sometime between the fat, old lady screaming about her papayas and me thinking "_holy shit that's a study-looking cart_. _This is gonna hurt._" I managed to bend forward, push my hands into the soft mud, and kick my weight up and over the cart in this weird upside-down pole vault/back-flip. I land on my feet and am still running. It was awesome.

* * *

By the time I reached the forge after climbing the other giant hill that leads to it, I'm at least five minutes late, I can no longer see my dirt-caked feet and I have mud under my fingernails which feels really, really disgusting. I open the door, or I would have but the door flies open.

Chiara Vargas, my petite, brown-haired, brown-eyed bestie, fellow big sister and bearer of the never ending PMS, co-owner of this forge and my boss, (Family business because on her own there wouldn't be a snowball's chance in hell she'd ever pick it up) is trying to glare me down, and I say trying because glaring someone down is pretty hard when she's 5'2 and I'm 5'8. I have unwittingly won myself a all-expenses paid deluxe ticket to a classic Chiara bitch-fit.

Don't get me wrong, She and her little sister Felicia are some of my closest friends and after you get to know her, She's really sweet, and this isn't the first time I've had the pleasure of getting screamed at by her, but she is in top form today and let me tell you, it's not pretty. At all.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!" She yells. She's actually being quite mild with her word choice. Most of the time, you have to cover the ears of all the children and everyone who might be religious in the slightest when she starts bitching.

Something's wrong with her, I can tell this after years of friendship. She doesn't get this mad at something so trivial, unless its about Loiuse, Feli's girlfriend who Chiara absolutely despises for no apparent reason. I'm usually late anyway. She'd gotten used to it by now. So what the hell?

"I've, um, I got held up at home. I'm really sorry, Chi."

"It's Chiara." Her tone could cut a brick in half.

Ok. She never minded before when her friends called her by her pet name. She was well and truly bugged. And I didn't know why.

"Chiara!" Someone behind her calls her name out. Relief, quickly followed by Irritation flit across her face, and she scowls darkly. I'm thinking that she's scowling at the person who called her name out but when Antonia reveals herself and crosses to her girlfriend, I can tell it's not so.

Antonia Sophia Selena Maria Yolanda Theresa Hernandez Carriedo, a native Cazatanian and Chiara's bride-to-be, is the other owner of this forge. She is also one of my best friend's in the world, Like Chi and Felicia and Ivana and Nikolai and Vash and Lili. Not only is she a totally awesome friend, she's Cazatanian; (Cazatania is like, a big deal here. Super glamorous. Don't know why.), She's absolutely gorgeous. Tall, curvy, robust, and her skin is like caramel. Soft, smooth and sweet-smelling. She has black/brown hair, and forest-green eyes. Like I said, absolutely gorgeous. You should see the guys' face falls when I tell them she's taken.

She and Antonia have known each other for years. Back when they were little, Alessandro Vargas owned this forge (and 3 others scattered around Lantiria) along with a very popular Hotel chain in the richer part of Bariyle (This town) while Gustavo Hernandez Carriedo owned a much, much bigger steel-making factory (plus The most popular theatre in Lantiria, Quentain and Britanica) in Cazatania somewhere, and they were to be wed and merge the two companies. Antonia was sent here 7 years ago to spend time with her fiancée, and learn about the companies She and Chiara would soon be ruling.

In the beginning, neither Antonia nor Chiara were very happy about this arrangement. Actually, extremely, murderously (especially in Chiara's case) displeased would be more like it. We were just over pre-teens and they were already engaged! It was crazy!

Toni was always trying to make nice with Chi though and that determination, through the curse-fests and the cat-fights, eventually won her respect. It took a little while longer for her to actually warm up to Antonia. Now they're so in love, it's practically sickening. Hahahaha, just kidding, well I'm not kidding about the madly in love part, because it's true, it's the sickening part I'm kidding about. Plus, they are a really cute couple to be fair (Don't tell Lovina I said so).

Antonia kisses Chi on the cheek and turns to greet me. There's something up with her too. She moves almost stiffly, her usually bright smile not as…bright. She bear-hugs me and her lemon-scented curly brown hair gets tangled in my mouth. She leans close and when her lips are right by my ear, she whispers,_ "Check-Up."_

oh.

Oh...

Fuck.

Check-ups are the towns' not so original word for the random, mandatory inspections that the Lords and Ladies do in every place of business that gets more than three customers a year. If they don't like that they see, (And if they don't get a little 'keepsake' to take back to their superior,) you get shut down and the other businesses will put you on their blacklist. Meaning, you're out of a job in this town forever unless you're lucky or you have cash, and if you had cash, you wouldn't need to be working. And moving poses the same problems. You need money or luck. And to make it worse, you have no idea who the official is, or the noble they work for (until you find out who the official is, duh)

So our livelihoods depend on this going well, and the officials are known for taking a sort of sick pleasure in ruining people's lives for trivial crap. That's not everyone mind, you, but it's enough.

And something just came to mind that makes the stake even higher today, and explains Chiara's dark mood and Toni's strained affection. Antonia. If this check-up goes south, then the forge will be shut down and since when Toni and Chiara get married the forge will be built upon, jobs will be given to hundreds of Cazatanians and Lantirians, and eventually become the largest steel-making factory in Lantiro and Cazatania. Then, She and Chi will take over their fathers respective monopolies and become possibly the most important buisness leaders in all of the 5 countries. If the forge gets shut down, it will become clear that They arent fit to run a buisness and all the plans to build it bigger and better will vanish with it, effectively ending the proposed consolidation. The wedding will be terminated and Antonia will be sent back to Cazatania, and I'll bet she won't be returning... Since Antonia and Chiara don't yet rule their father's company (this forge was turned by Chiara's father into sort of a practice business to see how well They could run it together) they don't have a big enough business to become exempt from the check-up and they also don't have the official titles of Lady Chiara and Lady Antonia, which they will get when they marry, that would have also exempted them from check-ups. If we get shut-down, they'll tear Chi and Toni apart. (If you're wondering why we're so worried, I mean surely we've been through this before right? I said it was random, and it is. During the check-ups the nobles don't visit every place if business, there's simply no time. We have never had one (We think Alessandro's been paying them not too) but now he's letting them as a test. This whole thing is entirely new for us.)

This is not going to be one of those Star-Crossed Lovers bullshit scenarios, not if I can help it.

Chiara is staring at me impatiently, I nod. _"I know what's happening here."_ Thank God for Friend telepathy, because she gives a sad, knowing, little nod back. "Well, Uh, are you gonna let me in, Chi- I mean Chiara?"

She nods curtly and steps back.

I can't even take comfort in the fact that the forge seems just like it always does, smoky and hot, a scent I absolutely adore as I walk in. I can see the cream-colored scarf that Ivana never takes off in the very back of the forge. Her ice-blond hair, now blackish in the soot and coal is tied in a straining bun (She never put her hair up before) and her shoulders look hunched, but she's working faster than I've ever seen her. Now that I look, I can see Nikolai right besides her, working just as hard. They're brother and sister too, but Niko wants to be more. He's always begging Ivana to marry him, its kinda weird but I try not to judge. I can see the tell-tale signs of stress in Ivana and Nikolai. I'd love too, but I can't even say hi to them right now though.

"Alright then. Let's see what there is to see here, shall we?" says someone who I can't see. I look around the giant wall leading to the room where the actual forging takes place. It's a brunette woman not much taller than Lovina, dressed in muted violet and navy, the colors of Noble Lady Cassandra. She stands with her back to us but she sounds really familiar.

* * *

Click.

The voice clicks in my brain. I definitely know her. "Violet?"

She jumps a little and spins around on her heel. "Amelia?"

Before I worked in the forge, right after I finished high school, I worked in the 2nd most prominent Noble's house; her name was (is) Lady Cassandra Whitethorn. I was an apprentice to the Head Accountant Violet Lea since I was good at numbers and Cassandra, oh, excuse me Lady Cassandra, said she liked my spunk.

_(She actually said that after I punched this one little dick in the jaw for heckling her at the Annual Town Festival. He was being a jerk, and Chiara's mother who was basically me and Maddie's surrogate, had engrained in me at a young age to never upset the Nobles. The mayor always had to travel and if he wasn't there and you upset them, unless they were nice which was rare, it wouldn't end well for you. The little ass I punched, after his jaw was rewired, became my first boyfriend. He was a cheating fuck though, and now his jaw will never be the same)_

Violet and I got along amazingly. She was so nice and patient and fair and I was so thankful for her friendship since the rest of the servants looked down on me for coming from such a low birth, despite the fact that it wasn't much different for them. So yeah, Violet and I did math all day in a violet and navy room. It wasn't that bad at first. All the food we wanted, and no one heckling us, except for the other accountants but like I said before. Math, all. _day. __long._

I almost went insane.

Too bad really, the pay was great. I was planning to buy a new house, not a little ramshackle cabin, which was all I could afford at the time, for us. But, y'know, anything was better than math.

So back to the present.

Violet pulls me into one of her spine-breaking hugs. For a ridiculously tiny woman like her, she has very impressive strength. I try to figure out why she's here. She was an accountant when I saw her last.

"Oh my god, Violet. What are you doing here!?"

She pulls back, and grins, "I got promoted, Amelia!" She's practically bubbling." But never mind that! I haven't seen you in months!"

"Yeah, I know. You've been well. Obviously."

"Yeah. But what are you doing _**here**_?" the way she says it, makes it sound like an insult. That makes Chiara's mile-deep scowl deepen, and that in itself is a feat. Violet notices.

"Oh, Ms. Vargas, I didn't mean it like that! I'm so sorry; my mouth has a mind of its own."

Lovina looks taken aback. She isn't used to the officials giving a shit about what she thinks, much less apologizing for it. "No, Mrs. Lea. I'm sorry for my attitude." You can tell she's forcing the words out. She doesn't like apologizing.

"Oh Mrs. Vargas, please, I hate being addressed by my last name. Everyone always makes it sound so formal. Please call me Violet. Like Amelia does."

Antonia speaks up, "Speaking of Amelia, If you don't mind me asking, Violet. How do you and Amelia know each other?" She sends a glance my way.

"Oh. I completely forgot to mention that. I used to work with Violet," I gesture to her, she waves." At Lady Cassandra's estate. I was an accountant."

Lovina cut in."-Amelia, you're terrible at math. "

"Shut up, Lovina and let me finish…and no I wasn't. I quit after a few months because it was way too much numbers and the fact that everyone but her hated my guts. "

"Oh, Amelia, no they didn't! They were just intimidated by your intellect." This drew snickers from Chiara. Violet continues, "It's true! She was one of the best assistants I ever had! You guys are lucky to have her!" Violet blurbs. Her very sweet comment is followed with snickers and smirks. When I start glaring at them, Chiara starts giggling and Antonia joins her.

I am not at all pleased with their teasing. "You guys are asses."

"Now Amelia, you know we're just kidding." Antonia soothes, or at least, tries to.

"Yeah. Sure."

A relaxed atmosphere fills the room. I know that Violet will give us a fair examination, _we'll be fine, I know we will. _Violet laughs softly, clapping her hands together. "Alright. It's was really nice saying Hi to you Amelia, but I have an inspection to do. So, if you ladies will excuse me-"BOOM!

* * *

Out of the blue, a gigantic explosion rocks the building, from the stone floor, to the gigantic hearth, to the ceiling. Dust that we hadn't bothered to clean from the rafter's falls in giant sheets down onto the floor, turning the room into a giant smokescreen. The ground rolls like an earthquake, pitching me and everyone else to the floor. Someone falls on top of me, and an elbow finds my stomach, knocking the breath out of me.

So we can't breathe, can't see, can barely hear and I for one…am surprisingly calm for someone in the epicenter of an earthquake, struggling to breathe again.

It's after the rumbling stops and immediately afterward another explosion, this time much closer, hits, knocking tongs off the shelves and sloshing hot coals on the floor, that I realize that this isn't an earthquake. It's cannon fire.

We're being attacked.

The ground is still vibrating but I hardly notice as I run to the window. Through the sooty, dirty, grubby window I see it.

On the far side of town, directly opposite us, the dock is being overrun by ships. Ships with cannons trained everywhere. The townhouse is almost completely destroyed, and what's left is smoldering away. There's giant hole in what used to be the sheriff's quarters. People, shop-owners, children, some of the lords and ladies are all running and screaming.

Including Maddie.

Everything slams to a halt, including my lungs. Maddie, my Maddie is out _there _in the midst of all this chaos running towards the forge. The school where she was supposed to be is being eaten by orange flames. Fear, for her, kicks in, or should I say, slams in because in all my years I haven't ever been this frightened for my baby sister.

And the inhabitants of the ship step out.

They're pirate, Boorish, bloodthirsty pirates that kill, plundered and burn anything they can find. The fear somehow kicks up a couple of notches. For my vantage point, I can just see the captain step onto the dock. He's somewhat tall, dressed in red, with blonde hair, and that all the stock I take because Maddie's down there with them.

The forge is on top of a hill, and the area below it, where the town is, is like a flat bowl with one (the forge's hill) little high area, so I have a clear view of her as she crosses the shops that lead to the hill, and unfortunately, I see that some of Mr. Pirate man's cronies are headed in her direction.

I fling myself out of the forge entrance, down the mountain at breakneck speed without a second thought, all caution gone, because all that matters is Maddie and her safety.

I reached the bottom as she reaches the base and I barrel into her.

She's pushed on her rump, and I kneel next to her. "Maddie. Are you ok? What are you doing here? We need to go now!" I pull her to her feet before she has the chance to say anything. She stops, yanking me to a halt. I turn around. "What are you doing?!"

"Are you ok?" What? Maddie's worried about me when we're being overrun by pirates? I need to have a talk with her about her priorities later, when we're safe.

"I'm fine Maddie! We need to go now, come on!" When I look at the hill, I can see Chiara, Antonia, Violet and even Ivana and Nikolai stumble out of the forge. Then I start ignoring them, because way up there, they're safe from most harm while we are smack-dab in the thick of things. I tear my apron off and fling it away because it's just hindering me now, and we make a mad dash for the beaten path to our house.

"_If I can make it there, we'll be safe. It's so far out, there's no way they'd find us. We'll be safe if I can just make it to our house!"_

* * *

"**OI!"** …oh god. We both freeze. My back is to the shout, I can see the pathway that (if you know where your going, and if you know the twists and turns) can get us home. All I have to do is keep running. But instead, I don't run. I turn around. And my heart stops.

It's him. The captain. I can tell by the luxuriance of his red coat, the way all the others are standing behind him, waiting for his orders, the way his green eyes roam over me and Maddie like we're some kind of prize to be won and carried home, those eyes zeroing in on our necklaces. If I weren't scared for my life and Maddie's, I might actually think he was pretty cute. Tall-ish, not thick but definitely not thin, blonde, green-eyed, but those eyebrows man! They were black and bushy and thicker than my first attempt at making soup!(on the bright side, it was an excellent glue) He smirks, tossing his golden head like some weird sort of lion.

My heart starts beating again, so hard I get lighted-headed, so hard that it feels like my throat is pulsating, so hard I'm sure that him and his crew and Maddie can hear it.

His smirk grows. The bastard must love smelling fear in his victims. "Well, well, well. Look at this, then. Now where might you lovely lasses be heading off to, eh?" He had an accent, a queer sort of lilt in his voice. It must have been Britanican. I could see everyone, all the villagers running away, now that his attention was on us. And hopefully, on me.

I'm still holding Maddie's hand. I give it a quick squeeze, trying to remind her that I will always love her more than anything ever. Then I push her behind me so I'm standing between them, like a good big sister should. "Maddie run."

I should have known she'd refuse. "Not a chance. "

"Maddie-"

"No!"

"Go! NOW!" I scream.

Just as she's about to refuse (She gets a really pig-headed, crinkly-browed, flashy-eyed look about her when she sets her mind to something) the guy, the captain, speaks up again. "Oh, please don't. I'm afraid that we have a bit of business to discuss with the both of you." Now we're trapped. If Maddie tries to run, they'll hurt her. I can see it in their eyes. My plan dashed to pieces, I see no other option then to wait and watch for an opening. Or go down fighting if I have to. He started speaking again. "Oh, where are my manners? I," He gestured to himself, "am Captain Kirkland, captain of the Angelo della Morte. We've docked at this quaint little… hovel, looking for some treasures. Now then, me and my lads would be most appreciative if you and your young friend give us those pretty trinkets you have on."

_What? No. no no nonononono, not my necklace. _Out of my peripheral, Maddie's hand flies to her own necklace. I can't let them take it. I can't give up my mother's parting gift, no matter how mad I am at her for leaving us like she did. All of a sudden, I'm not scared, at all. I'm mad. Furious really. This dick thinks he can waltz into town, uproot my life and steal my shit as he pleases? Hell. No. and doubly goes for Maddie. Hell, if he threatens her, I'll kill him or give up **my** necklace but her's is staying where it is if I have to slaughter the whole damn crew.

I square my shoulders and stare him straight in the eye. (the other one's covered with a black, silk, patch) "No."

He was certainly not expecting that but then again bullies never expect the nerds to stand up for themselves. It was almost funny seeing his face turn red. Then it wasn't so funny. "What was that, wench?"He growled.

"Oho, so I went from lass to wench now?" Anger brings out the recklessness in me, which then turns into heavy sarcasm. I turn to my sister who's staring at me like I've lost my mind. She's probably not far off considering I'm taunting pirates now. "Did ya here that, Maddie? I've been demoted by goldilocks and his caterpillar brows. Next, I'll be booted to prostitute, or barmaid. Ya think he kisses his mom with that mouth?"

_What the hell am I saying?_ I just couldn't seem to shut up. Goldilocks' massive eyebrows drew together, and he snarled and I immediately regretted opening my mouth. "Get them, restrain them. We'll take their trinkets by force, and maybe I'll teach this one to watch her bloody tone."

Oh **shit**.

"Maddie, stay behind me. Please." For once, she didn't argue.

The first of Arthur's, or whoever he was, cronies was a huge bear of a man. Tall and built like a barrel with a scar that went to the other side of his head on his cheek. He tore of his blue shirt and cracked his knuckles. "Don't fight now girlie, and I promise I will be gentle"

Uh-huh. Sure dude.

I slid into a fighting position that I didn't know I knew and waited for him and I let myself just…do. I've always been really good at hand-to-hand and the few times I've held one of the swords I forged, I really kicked ass so I was at least a little better off. But these pirates had experience, something I had none of. So I just prayed to whoever was listening to help me.

He ran at me, probably thinking I was gonna run again. I didn't. I held my ground until he was right in front of me and here's where it gets weird. My body moved on its own. He had his arms spread out wide and when he was close enough, I bent my knees, hooked my arm under his crotch, threw the other arm around his shoulder (I could feel his shoulder blades) and heaved over, using his momentum to fling him into the ground. He was not expecting that either. He recovered quickly though and made a grab for my ankle, I lifted my foot out of his reach and brought it down hard on his wrist. With my foot on his wrist I spun around and dug my other foot in his stomach, stepped off his hand, drove both my feet into his chest and gave him a sharp kick to the head, followed by two more. Then I stepped off him. I somehow knew that he was only unconscious and possibly with a mild concussion.

I faced Kirkland, who was staring with, I was pleased to note, surprise and shock at my feet and his fallen lackey. He looked at me and then at Maddie and back to me.

Then another guy stepped forward. He was smaller, quicker, but I knew deep in my heart that I could take him. He approached me carefully and lashed out with his fist. I grabbed his wrist, but he was expecting that and slung me over his head, trying to throw me on my back. it didn't work. I hooked my legs around his neck before I could clear his head and when he dropped my wrist I was hanging from him by my legs, coincidentally shoving my breech-covered crotch in his face. For a moment, he did nothing which I guess is protocol for a guy when a girl shoves her secret garden in his face, then He gripped my thighs, trying to pull me off, but I had complete access to his nethers and gave him the mother of all nut-shots, it was so bad I could here all the guys gasp in unison. He immediately let go and collapsed, writhing in pain. To be sure, I drove my foot into his femur, snapping it in two (I didn't know I had the strength to break limbs. )

While he screamed, I readied myself from dude #3. Now Arthur was looking at me like I was somewhat of a threat, and boy did he not like it. He himself stepped forward while two of his crew members circled around me.

They headed straight for Maddie, who was off to the side watching. "NO!" I cried

I started after them, only to have a blades tip meeting my throat. I had to stop. I stood, still as a statue as a thin bead of blood beaded at my throat. I turned my head to see the captain himself staring me down, and hot diggity-damn ( when I get scared my mouth gets all oldtimey) he looked peeved. "Now, **I'll** be your opponent."

I was really tempted to ignore him and help my sister, regardless of the throat-opening he was threatning me with, but when I looked in her direction, the both of her assailants were floating up in the sky, clutching their throats and choking on…something. Maddie was staring at them, her face screwed up in concentration. Kirkland looked too. He gasped. "Magic? Telekinesis, before her twentieth? (how did he know she was under twenty?) not possible, not of that caliber. So how is she-?"

I took advantage of his distraction and kicked the sword out of his hand, or at least I tried to. He caught my foot, with a grimace that looked kinda like he was in pain (the force must have done it) and flipped me onto my ass.

He leveled the sword at my throat again. "You two. There's something special about you two. And I intend to find out what." Without moving the sword, he bent down and reached for my neck. He tried to grasp my giant emerald. Then he paused. His hand was shaking, like he was trying to push it through something. Then a giant, invisible force threw him backwards.

I had no idea what that force thing was, but I was grateful for it. He was flat on his back in a patch of grass, with his cutlass near my feet. I picked it up and walked towards him. He pushed himself up to his elbows, cradling his burned palms ala bling force field (I really have to learn what that force was because, damn, was that handy.) and eyed me warily. Now, this time, I leveled **my** sword at **his** throat; and took some pleasure in doing so.

He watched the sword, and looked me straight in the eyes. He surely wasn't scared, but rather…intrigued. Then he looked past me and smirked. He nodded behind me. "I'd look behind you, lass. Your sister seems to have a little bit of a problem." ..._what?_

My blood ran cold, like people say that all the time but I could literally feel my blood getting colder. I whipped around, not even realizing that I dropped the cutlass. Maddie was being manhandled by three new guys, whatever power she previously had that I had been too distracted to be curious or worried about was gone. One of the grabbed her hands in his huge hands and forced them behind her back, and very roughly too. "MADDIE!"

Now I was well and truly distracted. I didn't remember that I had a pirate captain with a sword or any one of his still very numerous crew members behind me; I only knew that my baby sister was in trouble.

She stopped struggling and looked up at me, fear and anger in her eyes. Then she went paper-white , staring past my shoulder, looking like she just saw a ghost.. "AMELIA! BEHIND YOU!"

I didn't react quick enough._ Whack!_ A sharp pain, right at the base of my neck rushed up and down my spine, stopping at my head. I remember standing as the world spun around like a top, trying to figure out what just happened. Then thinking became really hard, or rather damn near impossible and my vision went all black and sparkly. Next thing I knew, I was on the ground (I'm pretty sure it was the ground even though ground doesn't dip and sway like whatever I was laying on did) with my hands pinned behind my back staring at Maddie's prim, non-scuffed little shoes. Then, I think she was pushed to her knees because I saw her thighs really close to the ground next.

Bits of conversation flitted to me. "_Don't think she'll…able to answer…will you come quietly…..could kill you both…your choice Madeline? Only assume...That's what Maddie is short for…well?"_

I heard her voice crystal-clear. "We'll come with you, just please don't hurt her further…please... I'll do anything you ask, you can even hurt me if you want. Just don't hurt her."

I wanted to protest because as long as I draw breath there shall be no hurting of my baby sister, but the massive head pain I had been trying to ignore for the duration of the conversation I didn't quite understand returned with friends, and cousins, and extended families. Someone, a rather inconsiderate someone seeing as I wanted to continue listening, drew a dark, pitch-black curtain over my eyes and I fell into a deep, deep sleep.

* * *

**Chapter one of my first Fanfic! I hope you'll enjoy it! I know I did!**


	2. Amelia and Madeline, I choose You!

**Chapter 2, Maddie's perspective! Yay**

* * *

You guys know that feeling where everything is wrong and your family is in danger and there's nothing you can do but watch and pray for the best and you wish that you could do **something** but you can't and you feel so useless? Yeah, that's the gist of how I was feeling right now.

Of course, getting kidnapped by an infamous pirate captain should do that to you. Kidnapped, actually, might not be the best word for it. I suppose it's more like knuckling under like I always do to make sure my stupidly heroic, possibly concussed, older sister doesn't get her head chopped off.

I say stupidly…but really, she did what I knew she would. It surely wasn't all stupidity, more like ridiculously brave, rash, and stupid. Sometimes, like right now, I wish that I had her mindset. She has courage, and buckets of it, and what do I have? Nothing of use. A photographic memory and a supposed I.Q. of 154 or higher, and a small burst of magic that disappeared as soon as it came that will not be helping me out right now seeing as I'm chained to the wall in the brig of a boat with my unconscious sister at my side.

Speaking of Amelia, I wish so much that these damn chains were a little longer so I could check on her, but of course they wouldn't be. She shows no signs of waking up, no twitches, no moans, no nothing. I can't see her face, her head's lolling against her neck and bobbing with every sway of the ship, and even if it wasn't faced towards the floor, her long bangs (or fringe, for you britanicans) and the rest of her hair have completely masked her face from me. All this waiting for her to wake up is making me very, very nervous. But at least I know that she's waking up in the first place.

I had thought that the captain, Arthur Kirkland was his name; I had thought he was planning to cut her head off for all the trouble she caused him. She had her back to him, focused totally on me, while he stood up cutlass in hand, and drew his arm back.

I then had a very good idea of what Amelia felt like when I was run over by that stray horse when I was thirteen. Terrified beyond comprehension that I'd lose my best friend and sister and the person I love most in the world. I could feel the blood draining from my face as I yelled at her to turn around.

But he didn't. Decapitate her, that is. Keeping the blade where it was (away from her head), He hit her hard at the base of the neck with the end of the handle. With such a slim handle, I didn't think it had enough force behind it to knock her out, but then I felt it, a kind of tingle in the air. When I looked closer, I saw that his hand was glowing, just barely.

"_Magic…"_ a voice in my head (God, I hope I'm not crazy) told me. I decided to listen to it for now since it made sense. So he hit her, there was magic involved, and for a few seconds she just stood there, not moving or talking or anything. Then Amelia's eyes rolled up into her head (if you've never seen that happen, it is **very** alarming) and she collapsed onto the grass face-first. I tried rushing to her, forgetting that I was being restrained. Arthur's crew members tightened their grip on my arms. That made me mad, very, very mad, which in itself is a feat. Amelia always calls it 'waking the dragon' **_(A.N Yes I love Game of thrones)_** when someone does manage to piss me off, like they did.

I could feel a buzz flowing through my veins, a telltale sign of magic. I never used it except for small things, but all my previous magical arts teachers all said I had an immense natural affinity for it. Time to test out how far I could go.

"Let the lass go, **now**." Arthur said, with just a hint of urgency. His expression was...thoughtful, like he was thinking of what to do with us. I didn't like it. "I don't need any more bloody injuries right now." He continued.

I for one, couldn't believe the words I was hearing. Actually, I couldn't believe that he knew what I was planning and I also couldn't believe he was telling them to let me go. Apparently, neither could they.

"B-but Cap'n..."

"Are you questioning your Captain now?" He asked, with just a hint of bitch-I-will-end-you-if-you-argue-with-me in his tone. Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-Dumbass got the picture immediately and dropped my arms like I had leprosy.

I practically sprinted to Amelia's side.

The captain had her arms tied behind her back, which to me felt a little like overkill, I mean, she's already unconscious and deeply so. I looked her over carefully as I ran towards her. Everything besides the back of her head looked OK. Which was good.

"Amelia?" I, rather foolishly, expected her to answer me. She didn't, of course.

Before I knew what happened, **I** had the sword pointed at my throat, pressing into where my Adam's apple would be if I had one. He was blocking me from her. The Captain was watching me like a hawk watches a mouse. "Now, I have a proposition to ask you, lass, since I don't think she'll," he gestured to Amelia," be able to answer. I want the both of you to come with me on my ship as my_ **guests**"_ his tone said **_captives,_**" "until I figure out what to do with you both. You two have very special abilities that could prove exceedingly useful to me and I'd be a fool to let you slip through my fingers."

My first thought was "_no way in hell_," my next that "_there would be no way in hell Amelia would let me agree if she were conscious_," but then again we didn't have much of a choice. But still, I could see very clearly the massive tantrum she will pitch when she wakes up. But then again, if she wakes up, she'll insist that I be left alone and that she'll be taken instead, and these no way I'm letting_ that_ happen. But If we don't go with him, he'll kill us.

He must have sensed my hesitation. "Well, it isn't like I'm offering you much of a choice. Will you come quietly, because if you refuse I could kill you both...quite easily in fact. No matter what I say, tis not my decision. it is your choice, Madeline?"

I jumped completely on accident, cutting myself on the blade a little. I had no idea he knew my name. Hearing it from him was…weird.

"Did I startle you?" He asked. I'm 99.99999999% percent sure he was mocking me."I only assumed that's what Maddie is short for." Right. Of course. That makes sense. _Calm Down, Madeline!_ I chastised myself.

The only option I could see was to agree. So I did.

"We'll come, just please don't hurt her further…please... I'll do anything you ask. Just don't hurt her." I could feel Amelia protesting in my head as I said it.

He grinned evilly, flexing his gloved fingers. "Excellent." One of his lackeys, a blonde with green eyes glared at us, and he had a pistol. Not good. "Chain them, Captain."

That sounded even worse than the captive's thing.

Arthur looked at this mystery blonde. "Why would I do that, Vash? I said they were my captives, not my prisoners. Earning their trust will be that much harder if I treat them like that."

I fucking knew he meant captives. And he thinks that he can earn Amelia's trust? Now? Not a snowflakes chance in the hottest part of hell. On the sun. During a supernova. What I'm saying is it is never gonna happen, ever.

Vash, if that was his name, insisted. "They're dangerous. Especially her. " He pointed to Amelia. "A mother's instincts and that. Hell hath no fury-"

"Like a wench scorned, yes I've heard. But she's unconscious, and will be for at least the next ten minutes, Vash. Long enough to get us out to sea. She knows nothing about sailing a ship so she'll have no choice but to sit pretty until an agreement can be made." If he thinks it's gonna be that easy, well… and he's forgetting that Amelia's not the only one who can raise a little hell. Granted, I usually don't, ever but now I suppose I can try.

'Vash' still insisted that we be chained up. Then Sadiq, 'Lovino' (Who looked eerily similar to Chiara in personality and appearance, right down to the wayward curl sticking out of the sides of their heads), his younger brother 'Feliciano (Same thing here. He looks and acts just like Felicia. It's so weird), a silver haired, rambunctious woman named Julchen and some other who weren't named all started insisting that we be chained.

Eventually Arthur caved "Until," He said, Amelia wakes up and we can talk about things.." So a sleepy-looking guy named Heracles hoisted Amelia over his shoulder and carted her off into the ship. Vash, very reluctantly, handled me. In addition to touching me like I had the plague, he also slapped the chains on my wrist with more than a bit of enthusiasm. And that is how we got here.

I tried seeing if my magic could pick the locks, whenever I tried I got a sharp zap on my wrists. After a few idiotic tries and the brig beginning to smell like bacon, I stopped. And I waited and I waited and I waited some more. I'm very impatient.

I debated in yelling and being very uncooperative, but I didn't really see the point. I was one person, they numbered at least 30 and the crew already hated me for no apparent reason so they'd probably be willing to do harm to me even though I hope Captain Kirkland ordered them not to. And I didn't think anybody was down in the brig, which should have been in the lower deck. Looking through the bars, I could see nobody, and unless they were silent as a crypt, there was nobody down here.

I started fiddling with my necklace. Usually, it makes me feel better, reminds me that my long-disappeared mother loved us enough to give us these. Sometimes, when I'm asleep and dreaming, I can see a blurry image of her. I don't know how I know it's her, but I know.

And that is where my bored thought monologue ended.

"mmmm…"

I jumped. It was silent in the brig, and I sure as hell did not make that noise. So, using that smart brain I'm supposed to have, I look at my sister.

"Amelia?" She winces, even thought I'm pretty sure I whispered. "shaddup…"

"Oh thank god. Amelia?"

She shakes her head." Tired. "

"I'll bet. Are you ok?"

She thinks for a bit. "My head hurts. " She looks up. Her eyes are all screwed up. At first she looks confused, then angry and then more confused. " Where the hell are we?!"

_Here we go. _

"Stop screaming. You'll make your headache worse." I'm pulling stall tactics out of my ass now, but I can sense the bitchfit to end all bitchfits peeking over the horizon, and as fruitless as it may be, I try to delay the inevitable.

"Don't change the subject, Maddie. Where the hell are we?! And what's up with these chains?!" She gives her wrist a shake to emphasize her point. She only whips out this tone of voice when she is not bullshitting. This tone gets her answers. This tone threatens a swift kick in the ballsack/vagina if you try and lie to her. This tone tells me that she is either angry, frightened or both.

"In the brig."

"The what?"

"The area of a ship where prisoners are kept."

Her face goes blank for a few seconds. Then she understands. " They got us. How did they get us? I mean, I'm guessing I got hit or something...wait. Wait a sec. I remember, hearing you. You were agreeing to go with them."

I'm not liking the the accusatory tone in her voice right now. I saved her fricking life, she should be a little more grateful.

"Was I supposed to say no then?"

She says nothing. Regardless, I can hear the 'yes'

"Amelia, they would have kidnapped you! Or killed you!"

"They might have spared you though! You could be back at home with Chiara and Antonia and the others, not sitting in a fucking prison at a damn pirates mercy!"

Suddenly, I want to smack her so hard that she sees stars. "So what, was I supposed to let you get beheaded? Was I supposed to leave you and just hope they'd be satisfied with your corpse?"

She, again, doesn't say anything. She knows that if she says what I think she's going to say, I'll get beyond pissed and we'll both end up screaming at each other. Again, I can not believe the things she'll say or do to put me out of harms way.

"Is that what you'd do?" She looks at me like I slapped her like I wanted to a few seconds ago. Leave Maddie there? No, of course not. Never ever, not in a million years no.

"Exactly. So don't presume I'd do the same."

She stares at me, a little proud and a little annoyed, and nods. "Fine..."Then, "We need to get out of here."

Duh. That reminds me of what the captain said. "I think he wants to talk to us. Both of us. That's why we're still alive. He wants something from us."

"pssh. Well whatever 'it' is, he's gonna have a hell of a time getting 'it' from me."

"Amelia, we're at their mercy, like you said. Fighting them won't raise our chances of survival even with our tricks."

"Well, th, uh, bu, I mean.' I reduced her normally sound logic to nothing although It was funny watching her splutter for a few minutes. Apparently, she thought of something else though. However, She's interrupted by a voice. A voice that only I can hear apparently because she gives no indication of hearing it. _"Hello? Madeline?"_

_the fuck? _And I thought I wasn't crazy. I've started hearing...wait for it...voices. Yeah. I can kiss my sanity good-bye_._

_"Is your sister awake yet, Madeline?"_

_What the fuck is going __on? _"Can you hear that?" She quits yammering for a moment, stills, and listens. "No. But you can?"

_"I'm going to guess that she is. Her voice carries."_

_Who is this, how are you talking to me, what is going on..._

_"Oh, pardons. This is the captain."_

_What? How are you talking to me?!_

_"Telepathy."_

_What? _That was one of the hardest abilities to learn in the history of non-royal magic! Where did he learn it from?

"_Te-Le-Pa-Thy_"

_Yeah thanks, I got that part. How? _

_"It's advanced magic. (_duh, Arthur. I'm well aware_) You're only talking to me because I opened the 'connection, so to speak. Look, enough drivel.__ Is she awake or not?!" _Oh, Ok now he's getting pissy. And I'm being surprisingly complacent about it. Whatever.

_Y-yes..._

_"Good. Elizaveta will be down in a second to collect you both."_

_What?_

And that was the end of that. "Is someone still talking to you?" Amelia asked.

Well, I don't really know. He just popped in, who's to say he isn't still there? "I think so."

"Who was it? how'd they talk to you? What did he say?"

"It was Arthur."

"Who?"

"The Pirate Captain." She does not look very happy to hear that. "Telepathy, too."

She was taking this magic thing surprisingly well. In general. "...I see. What did he want?"

I was about to comment when a door above us creaks open. Footsteps sound, and a woman appeared on the other side of the bars. She was absolutely beautiful too. Her long hair is a pretty shade of brown, her green eyes are just so crinkled with laugh lines even though she can't be more than twenty-six, and she carried herself with such grace. She had to be a pirate but I took a liking to her anyway.

"Hello girls!" she said, smiling. Amelia stood as still as a statue at my side, obviously distrusting Her. She didn't reply. "The captain wishes to speak with you so I'll take you right to him." The women told us.

"Yeah. No, no thanks. I'll be staying right here. You can tell your captain to shove it." Amelia snarked, glaring at the woman. The woman, I think her name was Elizaveta, she did not think to highly about that comment. She went from smiles to a glare that matched Amelia's in no time flat.

I, for one, was at least eager to hear what this captain had to say to us. What he wanted, why he wanted it and that. And the prospect of getting out of the brig was tempting.

Elizaveta unlocked the bar door and threw it open. When she spoke next, her voice took on a bit of a steely tone. "You sound like you think you have a choice in the matter, honey."

Amelia was know across town for her very short, very tricky temper and legendary catfights. I could sense one across the horizon. "I'm not your 'honey' bitch, now I'll say it again. I'm staying here." _Yep. There it is_. Amelia crossed her arms and stepped back deeper into the room. Elizaveta gritted her teeth. "So I'm a bitch now, am I?"

_oh lordie._

My cat-fight senses were vibrating like mad. I had to do something, quickly or else this would turn into the bloodbath of the Lady Cecelia's Institute for Exceptional Women Dining Hall all over again. It can't happen...not again, not ever. I still have nightmares about the whole turkey platter and the créme blanche... But back to the story!

Before Amelia can drag me into this, I step up and agree to go and see the captain. Amelia gapes at me, while Elizaveta gloats, silently. Before She can say anything, I follow the staircase up to what I'm pretty sure is the second-most deck and it's unlike any second deck of a ship I have ever seen despite living near the docks. It resembles a tavern or a hotel, with a long hallway and rooms upon rooms, but not a single door is open. Down one side, the hallway leads into what I'm pretty sure is the kitchen, judging from the sounds and smells, which makes me wonder just how big this boat really is. Down the other side is a room with its glass double doors wide open.

"Do you have any idea of Richard's (A.N. Hint, Maddie's essay chapter 1) whereabouts?" That accent was unmistakable. Amelia, who materialized by my side looking like she was one step away from murder, heard his voice and scowled deep enough to put Chiara to shame and Elizaveta who looked like she was gonna cut a caper any second now, joined me.

"Well, _Captain_. I have heard tell of a man that looks like dear old Ricky. In the sorta place he loves to hang about."

"Ah, shady, whore-infested and obscenely wealthy. That sure as hell sounds like the wanker. Right now he's probably banging every slag with two legs and at least one arm in town. And We'll have scads of new sib-"

He somehow sensed us, or maybe however he was talking to alerted him to our presence, but whatever the reason he went silent and cleared his throat. "Come in." His time was blunt, commanding, leaving no room for argument.

Amelia started muttering, "Don't tell me what to do."

"Amelia..."

"Fine, fine whatever. If I didn't want to talk, I wouldn't have followed you. Not leaving you alone with him."

I want to roll my eyes, but she's already in front of me. With her protectiveness, She'd make one hell of a mother. (A.N. Ameriko makes Dean Winchester seem totally not over-protective). We both walk in together.

This is where Arthur's quarters are, that much is obvious. Arthur was behind a large, mahogany desk, covered with parchment and inkwells and random odds and ends. To his side were bookcases filled with books, old ones with gold casing and plush chairs, and in two of them were two men that I hadn't seen at the dock when we were taken. One was a fiery redhead with twinkling green eyes who now that I look at him, looks a lot like Arthur himself. The other was a similar looking man, with darker, blood-red hair styled a different way, but he also had Arthurs eyes and eyebrows. There was a door much like the one leading into his quarters leading out to a balcony, and there was a roof over our heads, I guessed we're were under the quarterdeck and the poopdeck (wipe that smirk off your face you immature person you, that's right, I can see the smile), and adjacent to that is a door which probably lead to his sleeping quarters..

The red-head smiled lercherously at me, I'm not even kidding it felt like he imbued vulgarity in his smile and directed it at me which, I'm not gonna lie, felt really awkward. Amelia fenced him off with a glare that I didn't see, but it had to have been a doozy because his smile dropped right off his face.

Then she directed it at Kirkland, who didn't so much as flinch. He smiled too and gestured to two empty chairs. "Have a seat."

I did, she didn't until I look-told her to sit her ass down.

Arthur looked at the red-head, who shrugged. "Alright ladies."

"What happened to wench?" Amelia muttered. He heard, and wisely chose not to say anything about ut.

"I'm not one to mince words so I'll cut to the chase. You, Madeline, your magical prowess is very impressive even though I've seen so little. You've performed telekinesis on two full grown men before your twentieth birthday, which is when most people who are able to perform such a feat can perform it, and only then after months upon years of practice. You can call up your magic without an incantation or herbal offerings or charms or any of that mess and for a few minutes I thought you'd be able to break out if my chains, something a trained sorceress couldn't accomplish. I will bet that with time, your skills could exceed mine and maybe even the Princesses of yore from your country..." He paused. "And as for your sister, Amelia... her spirit is commendable, her will to survive and protect equally so but her raw strength is what really catches the eye. The men I threw at you outweighed you by at least 100 pounds and looking at you I can tell that you have had no previous professional fighting instruction, yet you took them down as if they were mere children when they were some of my best hand-to-hand combatants. Your form was perfect, your fighting style unheard of-

"What do you want with us...sir." Amelia griped.

The Captain shot a dirty glance at her for interrupting. Then he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly."I want the two of you to join my crew."

"No." Amelia reacted just as I thought she would and judging from Kirkland's expression, he had expected it as well. I was inclined to agree with her though. We _were _captives after all. But If we didn't, he could have us killed, or find some other way to manipulate us. We couldn't run away, seeing as we were out to sea. And I guessed that we were too far away from land to swim. I've read about sailing a ship, but reading and doing are two entirely separate things. What should we do? He had us cornered.

The captain sensed my hesitation. "If you do except, I can assure you that I can grant you your wildest dreams...gold, titles, men."

"I don't need any of that crap." Amelia told him.

"Really? because I saw that hick town you two wallowed in. Poor as they come, and you two? Certainly no nobles children. Speaking of, The nobles wouldn't have even been there if they were given a choice, you know and I'm surprised someone like Alessandro Vargas even wasted his time there. I should have took his sweet little daughter. I could have squeezed a ransom out of her father and her fiancée. There were only a handful of even remotely wealthy people and you were not one of them. "

"Thats enough, Captain Kirkland...I accept."

"Really?"

"WHAT?!" Amelia gapes at me in disbelief, anger, betrayal. "Maddie, have you lost your mind!?"

"Amelia," I swung my arm around, gesturing to everything."Look at where we are! In a ship! With pirates! We don't have a fucking choice right now." Her accusation was more than I could bear. "We are outnumbered two to thirty or more. There's no escape here! We are surround by all sides with water, hell, we don't even know where we are and even if we did know, even if we managed to get rid of them all somehow which we'd most likely have to do if we wanted to refuse and which, by the way is extremely unlikely, we don't know how to sail a ship! We'd be stranded at sea until a storm or more pirates come and kill us! Now think, for me, for once please! What else could we do!?"

She thinks, she wracks her brain for an answer but she knows I'm right. "Exactly. we don't have a choice. So just...please."

She looks down at her lap and her hands and sighs. "...fine. Ok. i get it. Fine," She looks Arthur Kirkland dead in the eyes, angry, defiant, but complacent."I accept too. For now. But you remember this Goldilocks. I will fight tooth and nail about this. I'm not gonna rest until I'm outta here."

He grinned."You have no bloody idea how often I've heard that, love. None at all." for the first time in a while, he turned his attention to the redhead. " Allistor, the rings."

"I didnt hear a fuckin' please Artie. I don't give a damn if your cap'n or no, I'm still your older brother."

"Please get the bleeding rings."

"Watch yer fuckin tone."

"Allistor..."

"Fine."

He got up and went to a small chest at the foot of the desk and pulled out a board on which were two gold rings. He handed them to us. " What are they?" I asked as I slid mine on. The second I did, it began to burn. Felt like it was welding to my skin. I saw Amelia out of my peripheral trying to rip it off of her finger. She couldn't.

"A symbol." Arthur replied.

"A symbol of what?" Amelia gritted out.

"a symbol referring to the fact that your mine now. That ring insures that you won't leave this crew, That you are a part of it. Now, fortunately for you, I'm not into all the pillaging and raping and such. What you were a part of was just a supply run. I am after two people and two people only. Now that you are a part of my crew, you'll be helping me take these two to an early grave." He opened a drawer and pulled out two picture.

They were both men, one younger than the other by a few years at the most. One was a blue-eyed, blonde man. The other a brunette with solemn green eyes and thick, fuzzy brows. "Francis Bonnefoy, and Richard. I want them both dead."

* * *

**I'm so sorry this took so long, but don't be surprised. These chapters will probably take a while. It's so hard portraying them well, but I hope I did well! Read and review please! **


	3. Those Damn French!

**Hey guys! I'm sorry that this is taking so long to update but i have school and college plans and family stuff so sorry. And I also don't know a whole lot about Pirates and stuff (I still don't know why I choose this topic) I'll probably take a lot of my stiff from Pirates of the Caribbean. In case you haven't noticed, pirate Iggy will be using modern slang because I am not british therefore its kinda hard to write things in a british perspective, and i don't know any old english slang, and I'm trying, fanfiction is hard.**.. **P.S. If you are British or French or Scottish or whatever, I mean no harm, I do not mean to insult you with the slang or the portrayal so please if you see something offensive, tell me so I can try to fix it and please be nice about it.**

**ARTHUR'S POV**

* * *

"Francis Bonnefoy? You mean the infamous Francian, Francis Bonnefoy?! **That** Francis Bonnefoy?! The killer, the guy who kills, hoo god f-Francis Bonnefoy..." Amelia questioned which quickly deteriorated into nervous mumbling. It was almost cute, if a wench as annoyingly stubborn as she could be considered cute. It's...It's not like I could justly call her unattractive, I can't and considering the way Allistor leered at them both, neither could he.

"The very same, lass. Even I have to admit he's damn good at what he does. The killing bit and all." I replied, watching her bravado drain away. I felt a little smug then, and a bit irritated. She had heard of that wine-loving, disgustingly vulgar, arse but not Captain Arthur Kirkland? Madness. Francis Bonnefoy was the most annoying, flamboyant, narcissisist I had ever met in my life. He thought he was god's gift to women, and men and his lust knew no bounds. At all. Ever. However, his swordsmanship was on par with my own. He was an excellent marksman as well, and not a bad pirate.

I don't remember when this rivalry started but it was early on. That much I do know. Must have begun when I had just began my life as a pirate, celebrating a small victory in a tavern getting roaringly drunk with my brothers. I had a lass with less clothes on than Me after a few bottles of rum dandled on my lap, and she was very _very _friendly._  
_

Then I heard a passing remark about the "absolutely 'orrible work on 'zis one town I 'ad to pass troo to get 'ere. Obviously ze work of a majorly inexperienced pirate. I could 'ave done better blindfolded." Then everything got loud and bloody and we've been bitter rivals ever since. Dylan used to complain that I argued with France more than I did with them, my own brothers.

"I've kicked his arse before, lass and I can bloody well do it again. There's no need for nervousness." She didn't seem very convinced though.

Madeline ignored me and her sibling in favor of studying Richard intently, pursing her lips. "If you don't mind me asking, what relationship do you have to this Richard man?" It's surprising how the simplest of questions can hit home so well. Madeline was much more perceptive than I had previously thought. If that was a good or bad thing was yet to be decided.

Richard was the most vile, deplorable, disgusting, god-awful bastard of a man I had ever known, But I suppose one doesn't earn the title of 'Pirate King' by being a nice, respectable sort of bloke. Hell, I very much preferred Francis over him. And people,pirates and civilians alike, respected and fears the Pirate King, which is precisely why every Pirate worth a damn set out to find and kill him, myself and Francis included.

"Wait…what about Francis's… siblings? He has some right? I read about them once. Can't remember much…" Amelia asked thoughtfully. She brushed a stray strand of hair away from her eyes, brow furrowed in concentration.

Oh, them. "His triplet sisters, you mean? Yes, there's Jeanne, Alyssandra and Yvette. The Triplés de Terreur, or Les Trois Bonnes de Demon, as they're known. I know them well… "As three vixens with more charm and grace than even they know what to do with. Their names were known far across the lands, their stunning beauty even further. This, however, was the common knowledge, passed down from people who had only heard the stories. The real Alyssandra, Yvette and Jeanne were that and much, much more.

Alyssandra, aptly nicknamed Mistress Wildfire, is the eldest out of all his little sisters and by far the most fiery. She was rambunctious, loud, energetic like Amelia seems to be. Her red hair, positively amazonian figure(A.N. Think Wonder Woman but a little taller), absolutely _ferocious_ temper, and the fact that she used to dip the tip of her whip in kerosene gave her her rather memorable nickname. She wields her whip like it was an extension of her own hand, which is why I try not to engage her in close-combat if I can help it.

Yvette was her elder brother in a woman's body. She is conceited, self-centered, obbsessed with her looks and fashion and jewelry, narcissitic and vain. She also looked exactly like her brother, with her pale blue eyes and waxy blonde hair though hers reached her slender waist, and her figure is tall and shapely...and buxom... but! She was an excellent markswoman, even better than Francis, or me. A rifle or bow (her weapon of choice) in her hands spelled death for almost everyone against her.

And last but certainly not least, the lovely Jeanne, the baby of the family. She was the smartest, out of all of them and spirited, like something out of a painting. She had the looks for it, certainly. grey eyes, black hair that curled when it reached her hip, all that gave her an intelligient air and the nickname 'Athena' from an old goddess of wisdom originating in the ancient, long-since-gone, country of Gris (A.N. no that's not a typo,). She was more slender than Yvette, and less buxom, but slightly taller than her, and more long of leg than Alyssandra. She was named after a young, brave maiden that Francis had known a long time hence, something I only knew because Jeanne told me, once when we were locked in combat. Francis was standing right next to me on the deck of a run-down inn. He was originally looking for Richard, as was I. He didn't defend himself when I found him and attacked, he didn't even move...he was so vulnerable but his sisters were not. Jeanne's area of expertise was the same as mine, a sword. We clashed, she divulged to me the reason of Francis's lethargy, that today was the anniversary of her untimely death, and I stopped attacking her and left.

Madeline looked up, "You sound like you know them well."

I shrugged. "When you've fought them as long as i have, you tend to get to know them a bit."

"Yeah, an' when yer bangin' em, ya learn them just as well. That Alyssa or whateva was a real vocal one." Good old Allistor, this is what I get for forgetting that he's still in the room. Against my will, I blushed. Amelia nearly smirked and clapped a hand over her mouth to smother her giggles and Madeline turn a light shade of pink and started picking at her school uniforms skirt

"Ah...yes well-" I was at a loss of something to say but luckily the need never arose for in that moment that moment... **BOOM**! The deafening sound of cannon fire sound to our starboard side and the entire boat rocked violently back and forth. Amelia was pushed into the side of my desk, which she was facing and grabbed onto it to steady herself, letting loose some words I didn't think a woman like her would know much less use. Then again, she was quickly proving that while She may have the beauty and bearing of a high-bred woman, she was no lady. Madeline clutched the edges of her chair so hard that I could see rips forming in the fabric.

I, myself, jumped up ready to dash up to the deck to see just what the hell was happening but Allistor beat me to it. He came down seconds later with Randall and Dylan, my two other elder brothers. "Art, ship was spotted three leagues starboard. The ensigns the Francian flag."

"Oh dammit. *sigh* Let me guess...Francis, right?"

"Most likely, Art. I can smell His roses and perfume all the way over here."

"I swear one day I'll just castrate him, lop off his limbs, toss him out to sea and be done with him."

"That'll be the day when you can actually beat 'im and his sisters."

"Belt up and get your damn bow. Give them two something as well."

Amelia stood up. "You want me to fight Francis Bonnefoy? Are you insane? Hell n-" The ring on her finger glowed briefly. She hissed in pain and grabbed at it. "Damn it! Gah, Fine! If I get killed-" I didn't hear the rest.

I ran up the stairs to the deck and the second my head raised up above the hatch, _whap! _An arrow tipped with blue and white feathers found it's mark in the slightly raised wooden section outlining the hatch to the lower deck. Right were my head would have been a second later. As it was, the skin on my cheek and the bridge of my nose were cut and bleeding.

"Merde. I missed." The voice was Yvettes'. The impeccable aim was also Yvette. The, "You'll get him next time," was all Alyssandra.

They all stood together on the deck of their ship about 10-15 feet away from our starboard side, which with its while, frilly sails and decorative ribbons spanning the length of it was christened The Maiden. Francis leaned against the railing, smirking down at me. Jeanne had her hand wrapped tightly around the pommel of her sword, dressed in a white blouse belted at the waist and black trousers and boots, Alyssandra was coiling her whip around her hand as if she couldn't wait to wrap it around someone's throat. Her clothes were their usual red, a short strip of cloth that only covered her bosom served as a shirt, and her trousers ended at the kneecap. Yvette had lowered her longbow and was adjusting her frilly top. I don't know how she planned to get around when the fight that was most definitely going to start commenced in heels as high as those, but I knew she would manage.

" 'Allo, Arthur!"

I could sense Vash, Elizaveta, Kiku, Julchen, Toris, Feliks, Dylan, Randall, Allistor and Amelia and Madeline behind me, ready for any altercation.

Gritting my teeth, I answered. "Good morning, Francis. and Ladies. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

He laughed. "Why nothing at all. I just wanted to see mon préféré sea rat before I steal zee title of Pirate King for myself. and they, "he gestured to his sisters, "Will be my Pirate Queens."

"That's disgusting." Incest is frowned upon everywhere, I would have thought that even he wouldn't sink so low.

He understood and frowned. "I knew you were perverted, but surely you wouldn't assume that I would ever pursue such an act with my own flesh and blood? You were awfully quick to suggest it, too. Could it be that your trying to project your own sins onto me to make yourself feel better?" I somehow forget that he had a talent for twisting my words around.

"NO!"

Randall made gagging noises behind my back, and Allistor commented thus, "Like I'd ever tumble in bed with _him."_ I also heard a few giggles, too quiet for me to pick out individual voices. I'm sure the color in my cheeks put Alyssandra's hair to shame.

Alyssandra laughed openly. "Who'd want to get in bed with him?"

Jeanne looked at her. "You apparently."

"I, no, b- TA GUEULE!"

Then they began arguing in french. Which I didn't follow, at all. So I turned my attention back to Francis. "What the bleeding hell do you want, Francis? I swear if it isn't a damn good reason I will make you a woman."**  
**

He ignored my threats, like he always did. Instead, he looked over my shoulder and smiled lecherously. "And who are these exceedingly lovely filles come from? Are they yours? What whorehouse did you pick them up at."

"What?!" This time, it wasn't one, but both of them. their voice cracked like a whip. Amelia stepped forward. I had to stop her from going any further. "They aren't whores. Now I'll ask a last time, before I let them tear you to shreds. What. The. Hell. Do. You. Want?!"

Perhaps sensing the anger coming from the sisters behind, he finally chose to stop beating around the bush and tell me. "I 'eard that you know where Richard is."

"And who told you this?"

"I'm not at liberty to say, although it seems to be true." It so happened that it was, but like hell was I planning to tell him. He could follow me if he wanted but I wouldn't make it easy for him.

"So, you're not going to tell me?"

"Of course not."

He grinned."Bon. I was hoping I'd get to beat it out of you. Ladies? If you would be so kind."

Then all hell broke loose.

The distance between our two ships was about 10 ten feet. easy.

Alyssandra wrapped her whip around a horizontal pole attached to the mast and swung herself onto our deck. Before anyone could move, she straightened and put herself in a defensive position. By then, I had unsheathed my sword and I dashed at her. She dodged my first slash, but overshot and listed to the left. I would have been able to get a good, deep cut in at her, but Jeanne jumped in her place and we began a long, familiar, metallic dance.

Other sailors flooded in from all side, some mine, some his. I felt a sudden, familiar yet not, pulse of magic. I guessed that Madeline had once again tapped into her magic abilities. I briefly wondered what type of skill she was using. Then I focused on the matter at hand, not dying.

I passed through enemies after enemy, collecting cuts, scratches, bruises, all superficial. men died all around me, most of whom, were Francis's.

Elizaveta ducked, Heracles slashed, Feliks who had come up sometime within the last few minutes twirled away from a particularly nasty downward slash, Kiku, a mysterious foreigner who came from across the five lands from a place that almost no one knew how to get to called Asiana, demonstrated his impressive skills. Toris was in the crows nest high above with a rifle and a longbow. A volley of arrows struck home around me, two sliced across my arm and side though luckily it was a shallow cut, barely skin-deep. One hit Vash in the shoulder. I tried to go to him, but Jeanne bore down on me pushing me back to the railing, and Yvette sent yet another arrow my way. Vash was on his knees, clutching at his shoulder, and the arrow was so far in the shoulder that the arrowhead had completely disappeared. An unnamed pirate in white stood over him, sword raised ready to deal the deathblow and I was in no position to stop it. Everyone on deck had their own battles to deal with.

The unnamed pirate swung his sword down. _Lilli, how will I explain this to you? That I let your brother get killed._

"VASH!"

Then she was there, her honey-colored hair whipping around her face. Somewhere along the line, her peasant garb had become ripped and teared, She looked like goddess or war returning from a battle, battle-worn yet still unearthly beautiful.

I realized that She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen right then. In her hand was a cutlass, dripping with someones blood. She used it to cleave the unnamed pirate head in two. Then she grabbed Vash by the hand and pulled him up, scooped up two muskets, gave him one and shot with the other, taking down one two three four five pirate with a blow to the head, and I had thought she had never held a gun before in her life. She might not have. A list of possibles explanation as to the vast skills like impeccable aim, unnaturally good fighting skill, skill with a sword despite the fact that in the town I found her in, all of those skills had absolutely no place there, were rapidly forming in my brain. "Amelia?" he asked, surprised.

She grinned cheekily. "Who else?"

My distraction allowed Francis to pop into my field of vision, leveling a rifle at my face. he disarmed me and kicked away my sword.

"Are you going to tell me now?" He asked.

"I think you know the answer to that."

"Oui. I do."

And he lowered the gun to my knee pulled the trigger. Or at least, I thought he did. But when I didn't feels a burning hot sphere tearing through my platella or hear a loud bang, i opened my eyes and looked up. Now he was dangling two feet in the air, clutching at his throat, though there was nothing there. His blue eyes bugged out. The sight was almost comical. Madeline stood behind him, palm outstreched, towards him. _Telekinesis, brilliant._

"BROTHER!" Jeanne, Alyssandra and Yvette all cried out for their big brother, and I was reminded that Catlyna Bonnefoy, their mother, has a healing sorceress so of course they'd recognize magic when they saw it. Yvette, standing on the deck of the Maiden, raised her longbow and took aim, right at Madeline's heart right below the sparkling amethyst nestled in the hollow of her neck.

Amelia saw. Amelia froze, so did I.

I found myself suddenly worried for someone I had only known for about three hours. But When you become a part of my crew, the amount of time spent together be damned, you're my family now and I'll kill and die for you.

Amelia was too far away from her to cover the distance. but i saw her running for her life, her only thought for her sister. I stood up and ran for her too.

Yvette drew back and let loose, and we both screamed.

* * *

**CLIFFHANGER NO JUTSU but no dont worry, Maddie'll be fine...maybe. I dont know for sure. Probably not, maybe. It;s a secret.**

**I would have continued the story here but I'm leaving on a dumb family trip because my mother wont let me stay home and Dad's gonna be at work and I wanted to get a chapter up before the week was up. Next chapter should be up before two weeks from now.**

**also, I'm gonna draw character designs for the triplets. They should be one my tumblr page Hetalian Paradise next week**


	4. My little Necklace

Maddie seemed to be quite a death magnet as of late. I mean, seriously this is like what, the second time? Or the third? If she got out of this alive, we were going to have a serious talk about attracting death from nearly everyone she meets because if this keeps up, I'll have grey hairs at twenty.

The blonde one, Francis's sister, was the archery expert here. That much was perfectly clear. With a bow, I was pretty damn good but I can't hit rapidly moving targets directly in the jugular at 40 paces while pirates all around me are trying to cleave my head in two. Or maybe I can. I don't know, I haven't tried it yet.

She nearly shot me in the eye, the fucking **eye**, while I was behind this one sailor trying to keep his blows off of me and anyone else near enough to get caught in this and the only reason I didn't was because my body somehow knew what she was doing before she did it and I sidestepped literally a fraction of a second before it got lodged in my iris. As it were, the thing scraped against my cheek, leaving a shallow cut that stung like a bitch.

So I'm dodging arrows, shooting a few myself whenever I pick a bow, dodging fists and swords and just about everything that comes my way with the exception of a rare few and I have come to a realization that my reflexes are really, really, good. Weirdly so. Add that to the fact that I've never held a gun before yet I'm a perfect shot, I have the fighting skills of someone whose trained their whole life and kicked ass all the way there, and that a very small fraction or so of the pirates I'm facing have even laid a finger on me throughout the duration of this fight and I get this: There is something up with me. I'm way too good at this stuff, with way, way, _**way **_too little experience or training. There's got to be something up. But I don't have time to figure out what right now.

I finish my guy and turned around just in time to see the blonde guy in Kirkland's...our, crew get shot through the shoulder by, I'm gonna guess she's Alyssandra or maybe Jeanne oh I dunno the Blonde one. The blonde, ditzy-looking one. She looks like a Princess, all dainty prettiness and snobby touch-me-not-you-peasant. She is now Princess. Princess shoots blonde-guy in the shoulder and he goes down and he hit she deck and I'm struck with this very heroic urge to help him.

So I do. The pirate blondey was facing before Princess happened raised his sword, and Kirkland yelled out, "VASH!" So I guess that's his name. I kill him and on the ground are two rifles. I picked them both up, shoved the one engraved with Vash on the side into the hand of its owner and took the other one for myself.

In my peripheral, I saw Princess ready another bow because apparently she has nothing else better to do. I follow from her bow to where its target is and lo and behold, it's Maddie. It takes a few seconds to see why.

Francis is currently floating and clutching at his throat, like he's choking, but there's nothing there but his hands and Maddie's right behind him doing weird gesture with her palm so I put two and two together and guess that Maddie's is using her magic (which reminds me that I really gotta talk to her about that, like where did you learn to do that. At all?) to choke Francis. His sisters are all none to pleased, but at least they can recognize it when they see it. I can understand that, especially now that Maddie is in Princesses sights.

You know the saying, 'my heart skipped a beat,'? I used to think it was total bullshit. I was proven wrong. My heart literally forgot to function for a second, as did the rest of my vital organs. I felt like I did a few hours ago, that is scared out of my wits and beyond, but worse because _this_ time Death was quite literally yards away. My first thought was to throw myself in front of her. One slight problem though, she was too far away for me to get in front of her unless Princess decided to wait 10 more seconds before killing my baby sister.

I ran anyway. Kirkland did too. We were both too late.

Princess notched the arrow and let go and it flew at Maddie. I didn't have the breath to scream, and I was too petrified to try. She didn't even see it coming at her though, she was too busy choking Francis to death. I'm not religious, at all because if there really was a God then I sincerely doubt that he'd put us in this mess without so much as a howdy-doo but I was praying to anyone who would listen to save her, or take me instead.

Neither of those things happened. The arrow stopped. One second it was soaring towards Maddie's heart, the next, it was quivering in mid-air half a foot away from Maddie's chest. Where it stopped, the space around it shimmered slightly. The closer I looked at it, the stranger it got. The space was pulsating, like ripples, like a pond and it was violet like the amethyst in her necklace.

I could have choked on the relief and gratitude I felt when I realized she was ok. I wanted to bear-hug her so hard her spine would snap. Then punch her for scaring the shit outta me like that.

Princess gaped at her, like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. I didn't blame her, I didn't get it either. Then Maddie realized that a good chunk of us were staring at her and she turned around.

She went bug-eyed when she saw the arrow. She looked at it, and the shield thing around her and then at her chest and then back to the arrow.

Kirkland materialized by my side, looking like he got his ass handed to him, and also really suprised and impressed. "She summoned a barrier without even meaning to. Damn, that's impressive."

I turn to him."What do you mean? What's impressive? What is that?!"

"It's just what I said it was. A barrier. Thats summoned itself, apparently. Curious indeed..."

It was then after a rogue sword came hurtling at my back that I realized the fight was still going on. I sidestepped again without even looking at the thing, watching as the sword flew past Kirkland and I and into a rival pirates skull. Kirkland looked at me the same way he looked at Maddie, suprised and impressed and curious and like, that look you get when you're slowly starting to realize something.

The triplets were no longer entirely focused on Maddie because when she turned around she let go of Francis. He fell to his knees coughing and wheezing and his harem of sisters crowded around him, focused completely on him.

Easy targets.

Too easy. and really unfair besides.

The Heroine doesn't get mean like that.

We both ran off into our separate fights again. The fighting began to dwindle. Elizaveta was fine, The weird asiani-guy was fine, Vash was as fine as he could be with his shoulder like that, the silver-haired woman was fine and laughing, the flamboyant blonde that has never left the serious brunette's side, they were both battered but more or less alright. All the memorable faces are pretty much alright. Some of the unlucky unnamed were scattered across both decks in various stages of injured, dying and dead. I had killed some of them. I didn't feel guilty at all when I killed them.

Now I did.

But they were still attacking. And I still killed them. I got hit in the arm with a bullet only because I would have gotten my throat slit open if I moved. It hurt. I dealt with it.

Everyone who was fine gradually became less ok.

They fighting dwindled down to Francis and Arthur. Everyone else was either too sick of it, too injured, or too dead to fight. Or they were waiting for their captains leave to retreat and regroup.

Francis was back on his feet facing off with Kirkland, man to man, sword to sword. That chokehold must have put him off his game just a little because he was barely keeping ahead of Kirkland, and I got the feeling that usually it was the other way around. Kirkland backed him up into a corner and raised his sword, but Francis ducked under his arm and hurried over into the middle of the deck, switching their positions.

They stood there, staring each other down.

Then Kirland looked around at all the injured and the corpses. He looked...ashamed, disgusted, maybe a little of both. Or something else entirely. It was kinda hard to tell. Francis was studiously avoiding looking at the deck, on either side. He kept his eyes trained on Arthur. His sisters all stood back, far enough to let him fight, but close enough to save him if need be. But who'd save them? Princess was looking a little worse for wear. Redhead was limping, and blood ran in rivulets down her cheek. The black-haired one was clutching her arm and her sword, but she looked as if she could fight until the cows came home even after all that. Now that, that pig-headed, I-do-not-give-a-fuck-about-me-but-when-shit-gets-b ad-for-you-that-is-not-ok temperament about her made me like her instantly, without any reason. Under different circumstances, I'd totally befriend her.

I got the feeling that Kirkland and his brother ( and those two others who looked a lot like him, so I guess they are his brothers) weren't on the best of terms as well, but now they were mirroring Francis's sisters. Allistor was in the front, chewing on the end of a cigar, that he seemingly pulled out of his ass (I don't really want to know), looking battered but fine. The other could boast of more or less the same.

I realized that I wanted to find Maddie. I looked for her and found her over on the other side of the ship, away from the gangplank, near the main mast. I almost went over to her, but I didn't.

Kirkland took one last look around and dropped his sword in the deck, still staring Francis in the face, daring him to attack. The message was clear, he was done fighting. So was Francis. Francis sheathed his sword slowly, gave a bow to Kirkland that was so full of sarcasm that I could feel it from over here and left. His sisters, his crew mates, they all followed without so much as a backwards glance.

It was like the entire crew had been holding their breath and let it out the moment the last Francian pirate foot left the ship. I didn't watch him leave. I had bigger concerns like Maddie, and Vash and deep, down for some indiscernible reason, Kirkland. Maddie was in the same place, sitting against the mast.

"MADDIE!" She looks up, startled as i crash into her knocking us both to the ground.

"Ack! Amelia? Ahh, you're squeezing too tight! Let go! C'mon, enough with the hugs, let **GO**!" She pushes me off. I don't mind too much.

"Are you ok?" I ask. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm better than you, Amelia. I'm fine. *Gasp* Your arm!" Oh yeah that's right. I got shot. Funny thing, I didn't notice how much it hurt until she pointed it out. It hurt's. A **lot**. I wince, involuntarily. "Ow."

"What happened?!"

I got shot. "I got shot."

"What. You need like, a bandage or stitches or something! Shit!"

"Quit overreacting Maddie, I'm ok." Not exactly true.

"Bullshit." Yeah, I'm not fine. Maddie could always more or less tell when I was lying.

"Madeline is right." came a voice above my head. I crane my neck around, which introduces a few new bruises and shallow cuts that I didn't know I had. And surprise, surprise It's my favorite Pirate Captain, yaaay. (Can you hear the sarcasm?)

He's still looking at us as if he's on the verge of realizing something. His green eyes were calculating, thought why I didn't know but wanted to find out. Speaking of eyes, he was very nice ones. Sort of a warm forrest green, intelligent, serious, and What the hell am I saying?! Uh, um... Just ignore that last paragraph.

"Amelia, you're blushing."

_What?! Shit! Shut up Maddie! Quit calling attention to it! _"No I'm not." Please let it go... "She's right. .You are blushing, love." _Damn it... He called me love, he called me love! Why? No! No that's just a thing Britainicans say, they say it all the time, it's cool.. Phew..._

_"_It would seem that someone's been hurt." He said, looking at my arm. I mean, he was too but whatever. Then out of the blue, He squats, grabs my uninjured forearm and pulls me to my feet. "Julchen is busy with the rest of the injured. I'll stitch your wound. Come with me." I wanted to protest, but Maddie opened her mouth, "If you don't get it clean and stitched then it could get infected and..." I did not want a lecture so i shut up and let him lead me away.

Keeping a grip in my forearm, he took me to the hatch. Then he pause and looked out to sea. I looked too. Francis Bonnefoy's ship was sailing away, barely a black dot on the horizon. He tugged at me. "Come on then."

We went down to his cabin, he closed the door and he set me down on the couch opposite the desk. I could hear people milling about on the ceiling and coming downstair through the door. "Hold still." He told me. Art- Kirkland sat down beside and removed his glove. "It works best if you stay still, mind you."

"What are you t-" He waved his hand in my face and this warm, fuzzy feeling swept over me, erasing the pain but not affecting my mind. "What was that?"

He shrugged, stood and and opened a drawer. In it were a roll on bandages, a needle and thread, some topical ointment and various other stuff. He took the bandages and the needle and thread out and left the drawer open as he crossed to the candle on the far edge of the desk. He held the needle over it for a few seconds. When it got hot enough to his liking he took it off the flame, gathered the rest of the stuff and sat down again.

"A spell. You won't feel any pain for the next three hours. "

Oh really? Good. I've had stitches before and no pain for them is always a good thing. He set too work, using a small bundle of bandage to blot away the blood.

"May I ask you something?" He said, as he began the stitches. Since he was being so...nice, I suppose that's what I could call it, i felt inclined to agree. "Sure. What?"

"That necklace...where did you get it?"

"Oh...My, my mother gave it to me."

"and Madeline?"

"Yes, and her too."

"Do you know where your mother got it?"

"I...She left when i was really young so i don't know. I cant even remember her."

"Oh. I see. I'm sorry."

And the questions stopped. But the odd looks didn't.

"One last question, if you don't mind."

"Shoot."

"How old are you and your sister?"

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**YAY! I finished a chapter during benchmark week! I feel so accomplished! but thank you all for the encouraging review! I love you all sooooooooo much, but I have to think of a whole smattering of new plot twists now that Arthur is beginning to cotton on. I had someone remind me that you guys already know the business, so now i'll have to throw in a curveball...hmmm**

**Well! Review and read and stuff! Bye!**


	5. SHE HAS THE POWER

**_There is a reason why this chapter is so late. I've been grounded from the computer and my ipad for the past couple weeks because of something that wasn't my fault. So my mother leaves on friday a couple weeks ago to clean my dead grandpas house right, and my dads a pilot and he'll be gone then and I can't drive, they'll be gone for days and there aren't any nearby relatives so I can't stay home and I miss two test and my shit gets taken away until I can bring my grades up._**

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Amelia got patched up, Arthur Kirkland did as well and they both fell back into their old ways, or I knew what Amelia would be like, and Captain Kirkland acted like what I think are the Captains old ways. Hatred and distrust on Amelia's part. Arrogance and amusement on His. But I knew that all the animosity couldn't be immediately fixed with one fight. As the saying goes, Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was trust.

Speaking of the fight, afterwards Amelia came to me, and when we had been introduced to our quarters, she told me about their conversation and asked me what I though it meant. I had no idea, I mean what could the captain possibly want with our ages and our necklaces since no one but us can touch them? And my big sister transcended into new levels of protectiveness, the likes of which I had never before witnessed. For about three days, she kept an eagle eye on the empty sea surrounding us and actually growled when anyone got near me. But anyway...

We learn what we could be of use for...I was a pretty fair chef and had all sorts of boat knowledge that **I** couldn't use, but the boatswain and the navigator and the carpenter could. I also found out that I could read maps, really really well.

Amelia, with her strength, was a shoe-in for the heavier jobs, rigger, carpenter, and such. She just didn't get along with anyone, and has a special sort of rivalry with Elizaveta, whom I found very pleasant Among the things I already knew that I could apply, I also learned some new things, like the fact that the lower deck I've been referring to was in fact, not that low at all. It was only the middle deck, where most of the crew had their quarters. Below that was the lower deck where the carpenter and various others slept and where the brig was, the orlap deck and the hold. And perhaps the most important bit of all, my did I know how to make that shield when I didn't even see it coming? Why did the captain look at me with that appraising gaze?

In the early, early morning after the fight, the captain had come to our quarters. To see me. Amelia and I were lying on our respective beds and Amelia was trying really hard to act like she was totally fine but the sheen of sweat on her face and the way she kept clutching at the bandages on her injured arm told otherwise. I was about to get up and cross the about...25 feet between us to see what I could do for her when the knock sounded.

Before either if us could react, he let himself in. Amelia glared at him, "What the hell a-" then she cut off. What was once irritation morphed into horror, about what I couldn't tell at first. She looked at him like he was a ghost (of which she's absolutely terrified)'"Y-you're, you're not gonna..."

The captain stared at her, as confused as I was, then he blushed a brilliant red, it was kinda funny to be honest, and shook his head. He looked kind of digusted. "No! No! Never, not, unless you were willing, and I was too, no! O-of course not, how ridiculous! I...uh...um..." Then I finally put two and two together. Two new girls, a pirate captain used to taking what he wanted, early in the morning when everyone else is asleep. You know, favors...of the coital variety. Mostly likely taken without consent.

"I came for Madeline. And not for anything remotely indecent, Amelia, " after seeing her shoot up in bed, and scramble to her feet. She placed herself directly front of me, ready to protest "of that you have my promise."

She sneered. "Yeah, because a pirates word is frickin' golden." She said the word pirate like it disgusted her to say it. I'll admit, I was wary of his intentions as well, bit I at least convinced her to hear what he had to say. He wouldn't have just came here in the middle of the night for no reason. He chooses not to reply to any of that. "It's about that display that saved her life yesterday, that force field. I'd like to know more about it."

I begin to say something, but Amelia jumps ahead. "She doesn't know anything."

"But wouldn't you like to?" He talks directly to me now.

"No." Amelia answers for me, again.

"Amelia, I can speak for myself, thank you. What, what do you mean by that, Kirkland?"

"I'm sure you'd like to figure out just what that shield was, and quite possibly how to control it, amount other things, wouldn't you Madeline? Surely, you'd like to know more about manipulating your natural talent for the magical arts?" Yes. Yes I would. But could I trust this man that I meet early yesterday? And geez it **was **only yesterday when it felt like an eternity and a half.

Amelia, or course, objected fervently and while I wasn't without my concerns, I decided to take a leap of faith for the sake of learning about this lifesaver of mine. I had magic I didn't know how to use, yeah choking people with my mind is cool but surely there has to be other appilcations, and I had someone who claimed that he knew about it and implied that he was willing to teach me. I agreed, much to Amelia's distress.

He turned and exited the room, beckoning me to follow, with Amelia threatening his life in very creative, painful ways ranging from hanging from his own intestines to drowning in rum to a cutlass up the ass to castration (to his credit, he barely winced when castration came up) if I came back with so much as a frown. As she continued to threaten him, he tossed little bottle of something that I couldn't identify to her. She caught it automatically. "It's a salve." He said. "It'll sooth the pain, and help the wound heal. I can't have you bleeding and crippled the next time we run into that drunken bastard and his three whore siblings again, especially if it's soon. You're a valuable tool and I expect you to take care of yourself. Do try and be more careful next time." He, very wisely I might add, left and took me with him before she could retort.

We went to his quarters. He sat in his chair, "I'll have you remember that I'm only doing this because you're a valuable asset and I like to keep my weapons as fine-tuned and as deadly as possible." he said.

"Well, Captain I surely didn't assume you were doing this for charitable reasons." He chuckled and beckoned me to the one chair opposite it, the one I sat in 12 or so hours ago. "You," he points a finger at my chest, at my amethyst,"didn't see that arrow hurtling towards your heart. Yet, your magic protected you. Or did it?"

_what? _"I_-"_

_"_Your questions will be answered momentarily, Madeline. Patience is a virtue. As I said, it might not have been you. Certain objects, usually ones once belonging to great witchs or warlocks, objects of great sentimental value can be imbued with great magical power. And the bearer of such an object could, in theory, wield great powers, magic in its most pure form, or even the basest will of the person who's magic the object holds. It just might not be their own. They aren't born with it, although people with magical abilities can. You should've been killed yesterday because nearly all magic takes conscious effort and that particular shield was supremely crafted and very high level by the look of it, but you weren't, you're sitting here in frnot of me as alive as alive can be. As such, I have come to two conclusions. The first is that you have in your possession one of such magical items."

He paused, "And the second?" I asked.

He looks me in the eye, his attitude deadly serious all of a sudden. "The second is that you have latent magical abilities the likes of which I have never before seen, and likely the rest of the world hasn't either."

_Whoa_.

"I believe that in the case that it is just an item, the item in question is most likely your necklace. However, I do have a way we can test it out. See whether of or it's you or your trinket." he continued.

"Really? How?" I asked, all trustfulness and eager. I watched as he looked behind me, at the door. Once he was satisfied with that, and before I could even register, he opened a drawer at his desk and pulled out a very sharp quill. Then, he held it in the palm of his and whispered something incomprehensible.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"All in good time, Madeline." He said distractedly. Suddenly, a thin rope of green energy wrapped itself around the end of the quill and round his palm. "Now, the test begins. And please, Madeline, I'd like my testicles to remain where they are so try not to scream."

_Yeah ok sure, wait...what?_

Before I could react, the quill was quivering two inches from my eye. It took a few second to realize what just happened. He had thrown it at me, at my eye socket. I would have been frickin **blinded** if...if...oh wow.

The quill was suspended in a shield, a shield every much like the one that saved my life earlier today, all shimmery and translucent, but this one was a light pinkish-peach color and thinner, more oblong. It covered only the front half of my body and the top of it brushed against the ceiling, and it was longer than the one I made hours prior.

Suddenly his plea not to scream made a lot of sense. If I had made the smallest noise, My sister would have heard with her super-sonic big sister hearing and I would have been smack-dab in the middle of the eye of Hurricane Amelia, and Arthur...well I'm liable for any nightmares that you'll get if I go into any detail so let's leave it at, it will _**not**_ be pretty. And to think that my eyesight (which might have been saved by my glasses if I had thought to wear them) were just the stakes of a gamble.

The captain was gawping at me, or rather the shield. He shook himself a little and tugged on the green string. The quill popped out if the shield and the little hole it left where it had pierced the hull was quickly filled.

He took one look at my bewilded face and started laughing, like big, loud, guffaws. He stopped enough to carry out a conversation, "Oh poppet, you should see your face right about now! D'you actually think I might have pierced your eye? One, I'm not that mean, two, I'm not that slow, and three, bloody hell love your sister scares me, Me! I'm a bleeding pirate captain, and a fresh little girl of what, Nineteen? Eighteen? She scares me! Absolutey ridiculous, there's no way in the sevens hells that I'd give your elder sister a reason to bugger me up the arse. Oh but that suprised even me, I hadn't meant to throw it so fast. To think, I might have been too late. Thought it turns out that I didn't need it anyway! Look at that! That's definitely not the hulking thing I saw today. No, I can sense that this one's yours. So you do have your own magic. Well met, I'd say. And that means that I can teach you now! Finally, someone who's actually born with the stuff. Magic, and might are two of the most important things you could possibly have to defend yourself out on the seas because everyone and their mum wants a piece of you. And I have might a'plenty. Oh, this is ace. Yeah, you have potential, little miss. And I intend to exploit it. And if you'll agree then things'll go much smoother for you."

I was instantly wary. I had agreed to his demands earlier, and look where we were now? Out to fucking sea and drafted into a pirate gang. Then I was thrown into a life or death situation, and I saw a side of him that ,frankly, surprised me. He was a brilliant fighter, and very protective of his crew. And now... I consider myself a good judge of character, and then evil, sinister vibes I got from him the moment we meet face-to-face and when he all but forced us to join with him, were completely gone and all because of a battle, and the events that followed. I knew that my instincts could very well be dead wrong about him, but for the moment on until I saw otherwise, I decided to trust him a little bit more..

Three weeks had passed with no activity, and without heads nor tails of Francis Bonnefoy, or this 'Richard'. Amelia's attitude towards the rest of the crew mellowed, (I thinks she's taken a friendly liking to Vash, and she has a special little connection to his little sister Lilli) and the quiet, studious asiani (**_a.n. In this au, since there are only like, five worlds, imma have to tweak some nationalities around, like asiani -e.i. Asian-_** ) Kiku, and she even managed to be civil to the Captain. I had become acquaintances with Elizaveta, and the silver-haired Julchen who I learned to be actually very nice, and energetic rather like my sister. She had confided in me the night before that before she came aboard the ship looking for an adventure, she had left behind someone, a sister whose name she refused to speak of. My relationship with the Captain grew into a sort of student-teacher type deal, he was going to begin teaching me magic, with Amelia's reluctant blessing, the week after and although I still didn't trust him fully, he grew more respectable in our (Amelia and my) eyes.

Around noon, on the day of our 28th day aboard this ship, I was on the quarterdeck leaning against the rail, looking out of sea when I saw a little dinghy speeding towards our ship. It had our flag, a green-eyes skull with cartoonish-looking eyebrow, flying above it.

They inhabitants boarded and headed straight for the captains quarters without a word to anyone. Minutes later, the Captain and his brothers came out, looking quite triumphant. The Captain turned towards Kiku, the navigator, and Myself. "Head towards Tabago port, Kiku and make it quick. We've finally found my father."

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**thank you guys so much for putting up with my life probs, and actually reading this POS with its crappy character development (I don't know the meaning of gradual when it comes to characters btw) read and review please.**


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